Multiple-cylinder engine.



Q Wmmwa No. 674,237.' Patented ma [4, 19m. .1. A; mason. MULTIPLECYLINDER ENGlN E.

(Apglication filed Dec. Q4, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheat I.

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No. 674,237. Patented IIIay l4, I90I. .I. A. GIBSON.

MULTIPLE CYLINDER ENGINE.

(Application filed. Dec. 24, 1900.) (N0 Iodel.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

m: NORRIS PETERS co, PHOTO-L UNITED STATES JOHNA. GIBSON,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

MULTIPLE-CYLINDER ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 674,237, dated May 14:,1901.

Application filed December 24, 1900. Serial No. 46954. (No model.)

T0 at whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. GIBSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Multiple-Cylinder Engines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to multiple-cylinder steam and air engines; and theobject of the same is to produce an engine with cylinders symmetricallyarranged which will operate withoutconnecting-rods or slide-valves.

With this object in view I have designed a simple and novel constructionby which the efficiency of the engine is greatly increased anddead-centers totally avoided. This construction is fully described inthis specification and claimed and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part thereof, in Which Figure 1 is a verticalsection of my engine taken longitudinally the crank-shaft. Fig. 2 is avertical section Of the same taken transversely the crank-shaft. Fig. 3is a detail showing the valve-passages. Fig. 4 is a detail of the crank.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in the difierent viewsof the drawings.

The numeral 1 designates the frame of my engine, which supports fourcylinders 2, symmetrically arranged opposite to each other in pairs.Pistons 3 are mounted in each cylinder and are connected to a crank 4bypitmen 5, pivotally joined at their ends to the pistons and crank,respectively.

Steam is supplied to the cylinders 2 by means of tortuous passages 6,which communicate with the outer ends of the cylinder. The cut-offmechanism, which regulates the intermittent admission of steam frompipes A into the passages 6, comprises two transverse apertures 7 in themain shaft 8 and a longitudinally-extending elbowed aperture 9,connecting with the apertures 7. The apertures 7 are at right anglestoeach other and intersect, and the aperture 9 pierces the surface of theshaft at a point 9 The outer ends 10 of the passages 6 all lie in thesame plane, which plane is coincident with the plane of revolution ofthe opening 9. The consequence of this arrangement is that the mouth 9coincides in turn with the openings mittently supplied to the fourcylinders 2.

While steam is being admitted into one cylinder 2 the opposite cylindersmust be exhausting, and to provide for this an inclined elbowed passage11 is made through the shaft -8, one end 12 of which passage also liesin the plane of the openings 10, and therefore passages 6 as the shaft 8revolves, while the other end 13 makes connections with anexhaust-chamber 14. The shaft 8 is prolonged outward and carries apulley 15 on its outer end. Metal packing 16 is also supplied.

The operation of my engine is as follows: Steam or air flows from somesource, as a boiler or air-tank, (not shown,) through the pipes A andthence into one of the transverse apertures 7that is, the one that isuncovered, and there must always be one. This steam next passes into thelongitudinally-extending aperture 9 and then into one of the passages 6and through into the cylinder. This admission of steam actuates thepiston 2, which travels forward and turns the shaft 8. The rotation ofthe shaft carries the opening 9 past 10 and into coincidence with thenext opening 10, when steam is admitted into the next cylinder and theshaft turned further. This further movement brings the opening 9 incoincidence with the passage 6, which communicates with the cylinder 2opposite the one first supplied with steam, and the exhaust-passage 11simultaneously establishes communication between this first cylinder andthe exhaust-chamber 14:. So the action proceeds, each cylinderexhausting in turn while the one opposite is being supplied with livesteam.

It will be evident from the foregoing that my engine is simple inconstruction and dispenses with all complicated cross-head and valvemechanism.

I do not wish to be limited as to details of construction, as these maybe modified in many particulars without departing from the spirit of myinvention.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and wish tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

In a multiplecylinder engine,a cut-01f mechanism, comprising thecombination of four 10 as the shaft 8 revolves and steam is inter-''registers in turn with the months 10 of the Too cylinders placedopposite to each other and provided with pistons, a crank shaft, andsteam-passages, the outer ends of which are situated in the same planeand ninety degrees from each other,said crank-shaft having transverseintersectingapertures at right angles to each other and located to makeconnections With steam-pipes which are positioned on opposite sides ofthe shaft, a longitudinally-ex tending elbo wed aperture which connectswith said transverse aperture at their point of intersection and piercesthe surface of the shaft at a point situated in the said plane of theouter ends of said steam-passages, and an inclined passage one end ofwhich is situated in the said plane of the outer ends of saidsteam-passages and the other end in the plane of two exhaust-chamberspositioned on opposite sides of the said shaft, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOHN A. GIBSON.

Witnesses:

JosEPI-I N. BLUMBERG, JOSEPH ATKINSON.

